The buffalo plaid design seems to be just about everywhere and never goes out of style no matter the ongoing trend! If you wish to learn how to paint buffalo plaid at home, you’ve come to the right place.
Buffalo plaid may have originally started as rustic fringes, but swiftly moved to becoming the ultimate holiday season plaid. The classic red and black checkered pattern is literally everywhere. From buffalo plaid garlands and wreaths to matching pajamas in the same design for the whole family, the holiday season witnesses the most of buffalo plaid.
Buffalo plaid originated in Scotland back in the 1800s after which it was introduced in America in the form of nice, warm blankets. Woolrich Woolen Mills was the first company to produce the famous Buffalo Check Shirt sometime during 1850. Soon after its inception, it was an instant and the buffalo plaid design eventually became synonymous with the brand Woolrich.
Interestingly, it is believed that this design got its name from the fact that the designer at Woolrich who came up with buffalo plaid owned a herd of buffalo. If you want to know how to paint buffalo plaid, you’ve come to the right place.
How to Paint Buffalo Plaid At Home
Whether you want to make a buffalo plaid-inspired holiday design or a home décor tray, this guide on how to paint buffalo plaid at home will help you with that.
List of Supplies You Need
First things first, you need a number of materials and supplies if you want to know how to paint buffalo plaid. This includes the following:
- A base board
- Paintbrushes
- White, red and black paint (either chalk or acrylic)
- Sponges (in case of bleeding)
- Painters tape
- Tape measures
- Paint-protecting sealers
- Popsicle sticks
- Cups
- Décor and embellishment items like ribbons, flowers, etc. (optional)
- Sandpaper
Directions – Get Started!
Once you have all the materials and supplies ready, follow these steps exactly as mentioned to learn how to paint buffalo plaid at home.
Step 1 – Sanding
Begin by lightly sanding the wooden base board in places where you think it needs a bit of sanding.
This will help remove all imperfections from the base board. Furthermore, it will also help roughen the surface in order for the paint to stick properly.
Step 2 – The Base Coat
Then, proceed to painting the base coat which, in this case, is going to be red. You can use any shade of red as per your preferences. Simply pour the paint out onto the base board and use a brush to spread it out evenly.
Note here that it might take two or three coats of paint in order to achieve a nice, solid base. Make sure to get all the sides as well as the front properly without leaving any blank spots.
Allow the paint to dry completely before you move on to the next step.
Step 3 – Do the Measurements
Once the red paint has dried up perfectly, take your tape measure and mark the middle of the board. Make sure to do the marking exactly on the center to prevent getting uneven edges.
Step 4 – Tape Horizontal Lines
Since you’ve marked the middle, it’s time to start taping horizontal lines on the board.
Take the first piece of tape and place it horizontally across the center of the base board. Make sure to get straight to do it carefully and patiently. Once you have lined it well all the way across the center, press down hard and well. This is done to prevent the paint from seeping under it.
The next piece of tape won’t be staying on the board and will act as your ‘spacer piece’.
The job of this tape is to help you identify the exact amount of space that you require between each stripe.
All you need to do here is place this spacer piece next to the first piece of tape that you attached on the board earlier. You don’t need to press it down since you’ll pick it up again for the next horizontal row.
Then, take your third piece of tape and place it after the spacer piece, towards the other side. Make sure that you line it up properly just like the first piece and press it down well. Again, this is done to prevent the paint from bleeding under it.
Once the third piece of tape is well in place, pick up the spacer piece from the middle and place it on the other side of the former. Now that you’ve understood what needs to be done, repeat this taping process till you have evenly spaced stripes of tape covering the board all the way up and down.
At this point, make sure that all the alternate tape pieces are properly stuck on the base board.
Step 5 – Paint the Horizontal Lines
Now, it’s time to mix the first paint color and begin painting the horizontal lines.
You want to go a bit darker here so the desired color is something along the lines of dark maroon. Take the red paint which you initially applied for the base and mix a little black in it. Keep adding and mixing till you get the desired dark maroon shade.
Once you have the color, paint the un-taped stripes with the help of a paintbrush or a sponge. The key to getting perfectly painted stripes is to use very little paint at a time. If your sponge or brush has too much paint, it’s likely going to seep underneath the tape and result in bleeding.
While it’s up to you to use a paintbrush or a sponge, both have their own benefits and downsides. With a sponge, the chances of getting a bleed are quite less as compared to a paintbrush. However, you will have to do multiple paint applications to get the desired coverage. This means that a sponge might take double the time and effort.
On the other hand, if you use a paintbrush, the coverage will be better in one go. So, you might just have to do a single coat only. However, the downside is that a paintbrush is likely to cause bleeding because of the paint seeping underneath the tape.
So, if you decide to use a sponge, keep dabbing it with paint as you move from one stripe to the other. If you use a paintbrush, make sure to move it in the same direction as the tape in smooth and swift strokes. Don’t put too much paint on the brush and keep adding more as needed.
Step 6 – Wait for Paint to Dry
At this point, wait for a while till the paint has dried completely. If you had to apply multiple coats earlier, you might have to wait for a longer period.
A key tip is to paint thinner layers of paint in order to fasten the drying time.
Step 7 – Remove the Tape
Once the paint has dried fully, begin removing the tape one by one. In case you notice a few bleeds here and there, there are many ways to fix that.
If it’s a tiny bleed, simply scrape the excess paint with the help of a weeding tool. Be gentle and careful here because you don’t want to end up ruining the base paint color.
After scraping the sides, brush the remains and it’s good to go.
Step 8 – Paint the Vertical Lines
Now it is time to paint the vertical lines for which you need to mix the second color of paint.
This will primarily be red, but if you happen to have the maroon color remaining, you can mix the two together. Make sure that the end result is just a tad darker than the base color and not too dark.
To paint the vertical stripes, apply the same method that you did earlier for horizontal stripes.
Begin by marking the center of the board. Then, place a piece of tape across the center of the board vertically. Make sure that it’s nice and straight. Use the spacer tape like earlier between each stripe and make sure they are evenly spaced.
Once you’ve taped all the vertical lines properly, begin painting alternate stripes with the second color that you mixed. Note here that you don’t need to have full and proper coverage here. It’s actually a good idea to let the darker maroon shade be slightly visible through this red paint.
Even if you do multiple coats, just make sure that you are still able to see the darker shade of paint through it.
Again, allow the painted stripes to dry completely before you proceed to the next steps.
Step 9 – Paint New Horizontal Lines
You don’t need to remove the vertical tape lines that you placed in the previous step. Instead, tape another set of horizontal lines right on top of it.
Since you already have the evenly spaced lines from earlier that you marked with the spacer tape, you don’t need to do that again.
Place the tap directly on top of the red squared strips. Make sure that you properly cover all the red areas. You will notice how the darker red color shows through the original base red and acts as spacers.
Step 10 – Apply the Final Color
Finally, the last color of your buffalo plaid pattern is black, and this is also the last step of the process.
All you need to do to know how to paint buffalo plaid is follow the horizontal tape lines and paint it black. Take a little bit of paint as you paint along the horizontal lines to prevent the paint from clumping together.
Allow for the paint to dry up completely before you can view the final result.
You need to make sure it’s perfectly dry because if it isn’t, you are going to end up with paint on your hand.
Then, proceed to remove all the tape to reveal the final beautiful buffalo plaid design!
Final Word
Once you know how to paint buffalo plaid and have the final product in your hand, you can choose to decorate it however you want. You can add ribbons, letter cutouts, flowers, or any other embellishments that you want.
If you wish to hang it on one of your walls, you can add hooks on the back of the baseboard for easy hanging!
Also, if you feel that the end result isn’t as proper or perfect as you wanted, you can touch up and fix the little details with the help of a small paintbrush. This will help you make the painted lines more crisp and neat.
Now that you know how to paint buffalo plaid at home, you can try this method on other kinds of surfaces as well. For instance, if you have a plain wooden tray at home that you wish to revamp, try painting a nice buffalo plaid design on it to give it a complete makeover.
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